LS102 asks a harder question than it sounds like. Not are you a leader — but why do you want to be one?

The course opens by saying plainly that not everyone is suited for, or desires, a leadership position. That stopped me. Because the honest answer to why do I lead isn't ambition, and it never has been. I lead because I care about people. I lead with my heart.

Three months later, I know that more clearly than I did before — and I also know it's not the whole story.

What the course gave me was a name for it. Servant leadership. I'd been living it before I could label it: the team's needs come first, my job is to remove what's in their way, and if they grow, I've done the work. Having language for that mattered more than I expected. It's the difference between a habit and a practice.

But naming your style also shows you its edges. Leading with your heart means you feel what your team feels. That's a strength — it's why they tell me the truth. It's also why a hard conversation costs me something, and why I've sometimes carried a burden that wasn't mine to carry. The course didn't tell me to change. It told me to know myself well enough to see both sides.

So here's what actually changed. I still listen. I still put their feelings into the equation, because people aren't inputs and a team that doesn't feel safe won't tell you what's actually wrong. But I've stopped mistaking care for avoidance. Serving someone sometimes means telling them something hard. That's not a departure from leading with the heart — that is leading with the heart, when the heart is honest.

Three months in, my answer to how do you lead is the same one I started with, held differently. I lead by listening. I lead by serving. I lead by making sure the people in front of me know they are seen.

The difference is I know why now. And knowing why makes it a choice instead of a temperament.

With Benevolence,
George Shannon Ferguson
Soli Deo Gloria